Baltimore And Washington

ADVERTORIAL CONTENT When comparing Baltimore andWashington, D.C., people often focus on the differences - in favorite sports teams, favorite foods and even brands of beer. This has created a regional rivalry that often leads area residents to commit to being either a “Baltimore person” or “D.C. person.” However, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. In fact, you can be a Baltimore person and a D.C. person, enjoying the best of both cities from a neighborhood that's the exact midway point between downtown Baltimore and downtownWashington, D.C. - Bozzuto at Maple Lawn.

Get ready to roll. Baltimore and Washington's fleets of food trucks are squaring off again. Some 40 trucks, 20 from each city, are expected to attend the second Taste of Two Cities event on June 1, which is relocating from Westport Waterfront to Rash Field. Food trucks from Baltimore and Washington will compete in several categories. An overall winner will be presented the Mayor's Cup Trophy by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who performed the same honors at the event's premier edition, when Baltimore's Gypsy Queen was selected the best by a panel of judges.

WASHINGTON -- William H. Fitzgerald is standing in the bowels of an exclusive private club, hanging over a rail with his eyes fixed on an intense game below, not flinching as a speeding black ball with a yellow dot is whirring close to his distinguished head."

September's a big month for bibliophiles, as Baltimore and Washington stage their book festivals. And this year, for the first time in recent years, the festivals don't fall on the same weekend, allowing readers to catch both packed slates of authors and events. The National Book Festival, held on the Mall, kicks off first, on Sept. 22-23. The event always has a star-studded lineup, and this year it includes Thomas Friedman, T.C. Boyle, Geraldine Brooks, Robert A. Caro, Sandra Cisneros, Patricia Cornwell, Junot Diaz, Charlaine Harris, Walter Isaacson, Jeff Kinney, Marilynne Robinson, and Mario Llosa Varga.

Fifty years ago, the baseball shoe was on the other foot. The Washington Senators ruled the Baltimore-Washington area, and they had to be romanced and remunerated to agree to allow the St. Louis Browns to become the Baltimore Orioles. Now, Washington is seeking to acquire the Montreal Expos, and it is the Orioles who need to be persuaded, though Major League Baseball says the Orioles hold no territorial right to prevent the transfer of a franchise to the nation's capital or its Northern Virginia suburbs.

WASHINGTON -- It should be a battle for the ages Sunday. Ravens vs. Redskins, Baltimore vs. Washington. Two cities' pride, glory and bragging rights on the line.There's just one problem: Washington couldn't care less.Baltimore, ever in the shadow of the nation's capital, can't seem to get noticed even when it is daring Washington to a fight. Instead of making pre-game threats, Washington is treating this weekend's gridiron contest with mild disinterest, dormant passions and cool detachment -- kind of like a reluctant witness at a congressional hearing.

Three days after terrorists flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the west face of the Pentagon, the phone rang in RTKL Associates' 10th-floor offices on South Street in downtown Baltimore. The nation's military headquarters was still burning. Bodies were still being recovered. The architects at RTKL, like millions of Americans, were glued to coverage on television and the Internet as firefighters and rescue workers continued their struggle. "They wanted to know if we would help rebuild it," said Ronald E. Fidler, a vice president at the Baltimore-based design firm.

The Baltimore and Washington common market may be feeling a recessionary pinch much like that of the rest of the nation. But, as far as the buying power of its residents is concerned, the area may be better able to withstand the pain.In fact, the Baltimore and Washington region has been ranked No. 1 in household buying income among the nation's top 10 market areas, according to a report released yesterday by the Washington/Baltimore Regional Association (WBRA).The group, a business advocacy organization, promotes the notion of a combined market area for Baltimore and Washington.

IPOD.WCITIES.COM What's the point? -- This travel Web site now offers free downloadable guides for about 300 cities all over the world. The guides work on iPods from the third generation and beyond (also known as any that have the "Notes" feature -- as the information comes to you as text). The file includes contact information for attractions, hotels, restaurants and event listings, as well as descriptions of neighborhoods and different tours. What to look for --Download the file for your city (Baltimore and Washington are both on the list)

Over the next several weeks, Bell Atlantic Corp. will make several additional software changes to the computers in Baltimore and Washington that run the local phone networks, part of a plan aimed at preventing a repeat performance of last Wednesday, a Bell Atlantic engineer said yesterday.Don Burns, Bell Atlantic's assistant vice president for engineering support, said those changes will help improve load balances in the master computers in Baltimore and Washington and "further limit the kind of congestion we saw Wednesday."

In competition for another kind of football fan, the Baltimore Ravens hope to get a jump on the Washington Redskins when tickets go on sale Tuesday for this summer's friendly between two prominent English Premier League teams. Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool will play an exhibition game at M&T Bank Stadium on July 28, the same day Chelsea is scheduled to play A.C. Milan at FedEx Field. The game in Baltimore will start at 1 p.m because the Orioles play at home that night. The game in Landover will be played in the evening.

After 50 years as host of "It's Academic," the longest-running quiz show on television, Mac McGarry, the longest-tenured host, says that "it's really time" to step down. "I'm 85 years old and gone way beyond Social Security," the Potomac resident said Thursday. "A lot of things are getting to me like this sinus trouble. Right now my eyes are watering, and I thought, 'My gosh, would I be able to read the cards?' Generally speaking, I'm in good health, but these minor things make you realize you might be losing a step here or there.

ADVERTORIAL CONTENT When comparing Baltimore andWashington, D.C., people often focus on the differences - in favorite sports teams, favorite foods and even brands of beer. This has created a regional rivalry that often leads area residents to commit to being either a “Baltimore person” or “D.C. person.” However, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. In fact, you can be a Baltimore person and a D.C. person, enjoying the best of both cities from a neighborhood that's the exact midway point between downtown Baltimore and downtownWashington, D.C. - Bozzuto at Maple Lawn.

Money Magazine has chosen the combined Columbia/Ellicott City area as the second-best small city to live in America for 2010. The magazine's annual ranking had the same area as No. 8 two years ago. Calling the region an "economic powerhouse," the magazine stressed the thousands of federal and related jobs coming to nearby Fort Meade and the National Security Agency in Anne Arundel County as one major reason for the compliment. The magazine mentions the county's "excellent schools," relatively low foreclosure and unemployment rates (5.2 percent)

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is a highly dangerous substance that needs to be handled with extreme care. To form LNG, natural gas, which is naturally a vapor, is cooled to form a liquid, which occupies much less space than it does as a gas. In fact, its volume is only about one six-hundredth of what it was before it was liquefied. If ruptured, an LNG storage tank will begin to spew this liquefied natural gas onto the ground or the water around it. No matter how cold it is, the temperature outside the tank will be much warmer than that inside the tank, which is cooled to negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit.

Jeff Quinton was laid off from an information-technology job in early July and immediately began sending out resumes and making calls to find a new gig. At first, nothing. The Perry Hall resident, 35, got a few robot e-mail acknowledgments of his application and a rejection. Nothing like a real prospect. His health coverage runs out at the end of the month. This week the phone started to ring. A recruiting agency in Hanover was beefing up its help desk. A social media company in Washington was expanding.

"I think I can, I think I can!" If Baltimore will just keep saying that, it may even come true. A train that could zip between Baltimore and Washington in 15 minutes is still just a gleam in Mayor Schmoke's eye, but the idea moved a step closer to reality this week when he appointed a committee to raise $500,000 to study the feasibility of a magnetic levitation line for Baltimore.The money would be used to match a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Several states are competing for those funds as well as for money to build a 30 to 40 mile prototype maglev line, estimated to cost up to $1 billion.

Hoping to further dialogue on regionalism, The Baltimore Sun Co. will sponsor a community forum Nov. 17 focusing on the shared interests of the Baltimore and Washington regions."

Accusing the state of failing to control industrial air pollution, environmental groups went to court yesterday to force the Maryland Department of the Environment to set new emission limits for a Baltimore trash incinerator. The groups also threatened to sue Atlanta-based Mirant for allegedly spewing pollutants from one of its power plants in suburban Washington. The plant has been operating for years without a permit. Activists said the actions were prompted by their frustration with the O'Malley administration for foot-dragging in dealing with pollution violations at some of the state's largest factories and power plants.